Brad and I have been talking about starting a sucession game of Dwarf Fortress. Thats where each person oversees the fortress for one game year, then passes it on to the next player.
Anyone else interested in taking a turn with the dorfs?
As soon as I get the world generator to output an acceptable world I will get the game started. I have been using a topographical map of mars to generate the terrain; with mixed results. This last run though the works produced a rather nice area by a volcano and a river. It also produced several geographically interesting but otherwise un-playable areas by volcano. Sadly though, it seems that goblins are exstinct in this world. So short of pissing off the elves or humans there is no conflict (other then the ever present forgotten beasts and titans. Or skeletal foxes and zombie bores if you play in the areas brad likes.) So its back to the word creation table to let history unfold once again on this imagined martian landscape.
How does the game work? Sounds like fun, but I usually forget to play :-\
Like brad just said (to me) its mostly tedium and micromanagement with a steep learning curve. And building a fortress deep under ground. Trying to get a bunch of manic depressive alcoholics to do your bidding, and occasionally accidentally flooding the world with magma, accidentally flooding your fortress, accidentally releasing the wrath and horror of hell or succumbing to the grips of a tantrum-spiral after a already unhappy dwarf has his kitten killed by a goblin ambush. Its allot of work with zero pay off. There is no way to win, unless you count losing in some interesting or glorious manner winning :).
You tell the dudes to tunnel, construct building and produce goods. You tunnel and mine to find ores to smelt and make into armor, weapons or trap parts. Dig channels and route water into underground reservoir that you excavated for that purpose, just don't forget about water pressure... and make sure the guy installing the floodgate is standing on the correct side before flooding the channel!
Basically, its inexplicable entertaining. Like watching and ant colony, but you have to keep them liquored up and sometimes the ants get depressed, possessed. or just decide to throw a party that brings the entire colony to a halt.
So yeah, you should give it a try. We are here to help.
P.S. You should read this if you have any further questions about what a succession game is:
http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/intro.html (http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/intro.html)
That's an older version of the game, but most things still apply.
Let me know when we are ready to start. I'm prepared to go in and totally screw up the fortress. I'll probably write about all the major events of my year in some sort of dorky first-dwarf perspective (as a creative writing exercise of course).
What kind of location do we want? Volcano with a river? Volcano w/ no river? Just a river? And how evil a place should we go for?
volcano: yes
river: I don't care
Untamed Wilds
Can we have a levy built by the lowest bidder?
...just sayin'...
We have arrived! The locals tell me the area is called 'Tombgirder.' The scouts tell me the hills are rich with magma, a great pit in the mountainside leafing into the heart of the earth.
The miners have found silver on their first try. Now to locate some iron and forge some weapons! But first a still, the workers are already clammering for more drink. Then farms and workshops. Ahhh, the thrill of fort-breaking.
19th Limestone Year 751.
I just discovered why the mining operations have been going so slowly. It would appear that one of the miners removed the only path down off the mountain, trapping all three of them up there. Their cries were heard to late for one of them. He died of thirst before we could rescue them from the high cliffs. They were removing the hillside to stop invaders from gaining access to our fortress from above our walls. But sadly they didn't think about what they were doing before removing the last slope. Fools.
A large room has been flooded and two farm plots have been established. I presume planting will begin shortly.
That all sounds quite exciting. :) So, are we naming character again? (I haven't tried playing yet, so I'm not too familiar with how it works.)
Sure we can name characters. The standard if for each interim overseer of the fortress to name a dwarf after themselves.
I will be updating the above post with any new fortress developments, so look to there if you care to read them. Or we could start another thread only for that fortresses updates. Or compile a page on Randomland for it. Lets do that one :)
I realized that editing a post does not mark it as unread, so here is the update again.
19th Limestone Year 751.
I just discovered why the mining operations have been going so slowly. It would appear that one of the miners removed the only path down off the mountain, trapping all three of them up there. Their cries were heard to late for one of them. He died of thirst before we could rescue them from the high cliffs. They were removing the hillside to stop invaders from gaining access to our fortress from above our walls. But sadly they didn't think about what they were doing before removing the last slope. Fools.
A large room has been flooded and two farm plots have been established. I presume planting will begin shortly.
Our dwarf fortress succession game seems to have died.
Sadly so. There is, though, no reason it cant be revived. Provided there is interest in such an endeavor.
Revive it! The magma should flow.
Time has passed, and again I have been bitten by the dwarf. I have the fever; Magma fever.
The recent addition of several new features-of-fun perked my interest back up. Critters have to graze, you can put booze in pots, all you need is dirt (not mud, unless your growing on stone) to farm, and 'fun'-causing GHOSTS!! Plus more (like bunches of more wildlife and some animals prone to engagement.)
And so, I have started another couple games. Getting back in the hang of things. Staying up till 2am watching them dig tunnels and throw tantrums.
If there is interest I will hand off my current fortress when spring hits and put it up for the next manager to oversee. (And good luck to him, unruly little hooligans the dwarfs are.) It has it all! A volcano in easy reach, a flowing brook near by, steep cliff faces and low-lying flat valleys. Any takers? As I really need to get away for a while....
Sure, pass it along. I have been hankering for some dorf fortressitude.
Ok. I started it during lunch today. If I have a chance to play tonight I will probably hit spring.
Its been a hard year, but a fruitful one. Until just recently everyone in the fortress has been busy. Digging tunnels, brewing ale and constructing walls. The farm plots are productive, and as there is little wildlife, they are our only source of food.
The forgery is almost complete. The channels have been dug and flooded with magma, the magma-gate is shut and the area is ready for forge construction. We also just struck iron ore while digging out the magma channels, had we found the ore earlier we would have dug the channels elsewhere. But done, is done. There is bound to be more ore about. And besides, we are lousy with gold and copper. Even aluminum, one of the rarest of raw metals! Those will bring in more cash then needed to buy steel bars.
As it stands we need to stream-line the distilling process. We keep running out of either containers or plants to distill. Perhaps more of the local flora should be harvested.
And I am off! A vacation at last, and a mountain to climb! Good luck, I have heard rumors of goblins about...
http://randomland.net/DF/ <- The saves. To place your own in that folder, put them in /var/www/DwarvenFortress Succession/
Fascinating! I like the "story". And reading a summary of all the happenings is probably more fun than playing, for me. So keep up with the updates :)
Just to let you know, I did download the savegame and get it working. However with dwarf fortress is a difficult game to be playing while totting around a baby. So it will be slow going.
Will keep you up to date on the year's progress.
During the first few days of being the newly appointed leader of a band of surly dwarves, I decided to be as much of a take charge and act now sort of leader.
I completed the construction of a new magma forge and magma furnace. I also designated construction sites for a magma kiln and magma glass furnace. I am considering temporarily closing up these extra magma vents in the ground less some clumsy dwarf fall to his doom. They would still be able to reopened if the growth of the fortress made multiple magma forges or furnaces useful.
A large project has begun, one which make take up a significant part of my year in command. As I have been unable to find a close aquifier or sufficiently large lake and as breaching into the caverns is inadvisable at this point with our meager military might I have decided to redirect part of the river down an aqueduct leading a large source of clean water directly into our fort. This would allow us to build good wells for the hospital and in case the booze runs out. It might also serve as a method for the creation of obsidian.
I have also commissioned the creation of a new set of magma-side dwarven apartments. These cozy dwellings are warmed by the raging inferno of an active volcano just a thin stone wall away from their bedroom. These should be perfect for housing some of the newly arrived immigrants (19 in total this time!)
The dwarf Ral Oddommoozib was taken by a fey mood today. He locked himself in our craft workshop. After hours of toil he created "The Elevation of Snarls" a birchen wood scepter. The best thing about the scepter is that it has an image of itself inlay-ed with alunite.
We've also started a picturesque statue garden near our front gate. This will keep the dwarves relaxed as well as giving them some needed time in the sun.
You should receive my next report soon.
Well, it is summer now.
Due to being gifted with a large number of completely unskilled and lazy immigrants, I've decided to draft a militia. None of them are much skilled, but hopefully with practice they will be come a decent fighting force.
To outfit our militia I ordered the creation of some iron weaponry. As soon as I did this I discovered that not a single one of the 36 dwarves in our colony has any weapon crafting skill whatsoever. In fact, none of them even know how to operate a furnace. To remedy this I designated a mostly useless dwarf to start learning these tasks. I'm a little concerned about the shoddy quality of our weapons and equipment, hopefully they are not put to the test anytime soon.
My time has come to an end... Spring has arrived.
I leave a few notes for my successor.
My obsidian creator project is near completion. I was foiled at the last moment by the arrival of winter and the freezing over of the river, my water source. Now that spring has arrived, to complete the creation of the obsidian the middle lever in the aquifer control room must be pulled. This will drain the water down unto the magma below. Once the rest of the magma has been turned into obsidian it can be removed by channeling. After all the obsidian has been removed, the pump on the level below can refill the obsidian creator. The pump must be operated manually. It is a good idea to have the floodgate connecting the river to the aquifer to be open when creating obsidian. To really "finish" this project, a drainage system for the excess water left sitting on top of the cooling obsidian should be created. Feel free to write me for more details...
I leave the fortress with a moderately weak militia, equipped with a few steel weapons and pieces of armor but mostly of iron.
There are far too many dwarfs out of work. Unemployment is a serious problem.
Also there is a crazy dwarf holed up in a mason's workshop demanding body parts. He has been in there a long time and I fear he may do something rash. I have built a butcher"s workshop and designated a few animals for slaughter but it has not been done yet.
Good luck to my successor!
I have returned, and another years duty overseeing this outpost awaits!
I arrived to a fortress rich in crafts and poor in food. The drink was not flowing and stocks were getting low. Before I had a chance to even examine the farming and food production situation I was alerted to its status by the complaints of the dwarves them selves. Soon they were eating vermin to survive. More farmers were drafted immediately. The two on staff were overwhelmed with the demand for food. Farmers were then given reprieve from hauling tasks, and citizens were told to leave the plant gathering to the experts. Unskilled laborers always make a mess of the crops.
With the added farm stall the soil was getting planted, but there was still little to eat. The near by ponds were nearly fished out and there was nothing left to hunt. But then! The elves! Come with a caravan loaded with acres of useless cloth, sweet brews made from the finest forest berries, and most importantly bushels of fruit! With the rock crafts that my predecessor seemed so keen on having made, I traded for all the food and drink they carried. Even bought some seeds to grow our own. Variety of booze will be the spice of these dwarves lives! But, as it stands, lets just keep the fact that it was the elves between us. Its not like we would have starved waiting for the humans. Probably not, anyway.
One interesting thing that the elves had (and about the only thing they are good for) was some rare livestock. A breeding pair of gibbons. A pack of territorial apes might make the goblins think twice about invading.
Speaking of goblins, we seem to be too rich for our own good. The value of the crafts are bound to start attracting attention. Time to get the iron works running smoothly and the axedwarves ready. I feel it might be a bloody winter.
Summer, and a forest titan appeared!
[spoiler]
(http://randomland.net/images/nick/hilltitan-cropped.png)[/spoiler]
It, I am sure, with only the worst intent for the dwarves I am entrusted in overseeing. The masons had just finished installing the last of the gates, protecting the tunnels to the rives and the rear (trap) entrance into the fortress. I immediately ordered the pulling of the levers, sealing off all but the main entrance. The beast flew over a wall and into the fishing tunnel just before the gate closed in its face. It brooded for a time, seeming confused. It them made haste to the courtyard. But by then all the civilians were safely inside, leaving only the militia in the open.
I had hoped that one of the cage traps would have caught the beast, but alas, it flew over them all. But it didn’t fly far.
Between the hunters firing bolts, and the militia hacking away with their axes, short work was made of the titan. I was expecting whole-sale slaughter from the poisonous, flying snake. But a few shots quickly pierced its lungs, and it fell from the air. Moments later there were antenna and scales flying everywhere. The militia captain got so engrossed in combat that he even bit the thing!
Now we have hill titan roast for all!
That should help with the food problem...
Fall comes. Food is now plentiful and the metal industry is churning. Cages, cages, cages. Must have traps. Traps for the goblins. Traps the beasts.
I have ordered a set of choke points be erected out of stone walls. These will force animals and invaders alike into narrow openings filled with cage traps. More work still needs done to them, but for now they are affective against the thieves and snatchers. Of which, we have caught a few. They have all been taken to a holding room... awaiting to take part in military training courses. A note to my successor: they are still armed.
Winter and an ambush! Not long after the rivers froze over a group of goblins appeared and killed a wandering dwarf. The militia was dispatched and killed one of the goblins before they all got away. I am getting more are more impressed with the militia captain. He may need better quarters. And steel armor! Next year when the dwarven caravan come, bringing the steel bars and flux stone I ordered we should have enough steel for a set or two.
Spring is arriving, and as it does, I am leaving. I bid the best of fortunes to my successor. The goblins are defiantly taking a notice to our humble burrows. Perhaps its time to draft a few of the less skilled migrants into the militia. We have had more then a few candidates show up over this last year.
EDITED::: I merged the two threads as they seemed rather dead.
I made this to talk about things related to the succession game without interrupting the flow of the 'Overseers logs' and any 'correspondence to the fortress'
Information like that I just created a svn repo for the saves (for any possible need to go back to and old one and for easy updating of only the files you need rather then them all)
http://randomland.net/repos/df-lovebronz
The webdav or whatever thing seems to be broken, so you cant get to the save via http right now. Probably just need to change a line in the apache config.
So is Zourtney or Jacsveus going to give it a try or do you want me to just take it back?
I like reading the stories and continuing to have never seen the UI. I get wildly imaginative mental images of what's going on. Ya know, kind of like when you saw that picture of George Nory and it dispelled some of the fun factor? Yeah. This really is quite amusing; keep it up! :)
I have never seen a picture of George Nory... now I think I will go on avoiding it.
The whole draw of the game is minimal it is, forcing you to imagine whats going on. That and the pages upon pages of reports you get like "Militia captain bites the badger in the left rear foot, tearing the skin and bruising the muscle." That, and playing with magma.
George Nory is not a frightening looking individual or anything. It was just an example. I'm all for imagination. Somehow mine's gotten fairly stale. :(
I have returned to Lovebronze.
My first few days were marred by the drowning death of a careless dwarf and the complaints of an angry mayor. I'll fix your room up for you sir, but I am not producing bismuth bronze items whatever you mandate.
I've equipped the militia commander with our lone steel battle axe. From what I've heard he has earned it. I've also created a new squad of marksdwarves and given them an archery range to practice on.
Today I found a room full of caged but heavily armed goblins. I've ordered them disarmed and will use their weapons in some traps I am constructing but what do I do with these troll leather loincloths?
An unfortunate incident occurred today... A glassmaker went insane and started attacking his fellow Lovebronzians. The militia was forced to kill him. Apparently he locked himself in the magma glass furnace workshop and demanded a certain type of glass. When we were unable to produce it quick enough he went insane. His body has been entombed in the mass crypt.
You stole the goblins' pants? That's low, man.
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html
Dwarf fortress 2012 is out!
New stuff
cities in adventure mode that have various buildings, dungeons, items, livestock, etc.
protect your community from secret vampire dwarves or hunt them as an adventurer
defend your fort during the full moon or risk a werewolf infestion -- hunt/be hunted as an adventurer
face armies of the dead in dwarf mode or visit their necromancers' towers and learn their secrets as an adventurer
evil regions where the dead and pieces of the dead can come alive, with evil mists and rain
tombs built in world gen which can be visited in adv mode, either beneath towns or out in the wilds -- beware the dead!
revamped justice/witness/death notification system in dwarf mode
immigrants to your fortress will now be historical figures whenever possible, which means more family relationships and history for each one
dropped items/bodies tracked between plays in the wilderness anywhere in the world
more battlefield information tracked/war dead raisable in world gen
all sponsorship animals and their giant/man versions are in the game now
various new abilities for creatures (see file_changes.txt for list and syntax)
adventurers can use creature abilities/learned powers and they can be tested from the arena
new site travel map to make navigating towns easier
reading/swimming/observer (for traps) relevant in adv mode now
established historical figures can lead bandits
rivers block movement in adv mode travel
eating/drinking required in adv mode
ingested syndromes are now possible
ability to make campfire (from 'g') and warm items at campfire/fire/magma (from 'I') in adv mode
traps work in adv mode, once spotted they can be ignored
gems now have different cuts
necromancers can write books about various topics (all books are in their towers as it stands)
moon phase indicator in fort
alphanumeric world gen seeds and some more world gen params (see file_changes.txt)
the legends xml has a lot of new info for historical figures
Major bug fixes
buffer overload from aborted world gen fixed
fixed cave-in-on-embark issue with hidden underground structure, and a few others
Other bug fixes/tweaks
designations over z levels all at once now possible
unit screen divided into four sections
rivers/pools have ramps now
able to trade portions of stacks in both modes
messed with adv mode currency trading and made items teleport to you
tweaked how fire damage works
made vision work through floor grates and bars properly
fixed some road/bridge problems
crystal glass items possible again
tweaked adventure mode swimming and alt-movement readout (use alt-movement to get into a river you want to cross)
skeletons/zombies replaced by animation effect
demons masquerading as gods will try a little harder
restricted mandates so they'll be more reasonable
stopped blank map from being exported when you back out of detailed map export
Nice! Are you going to start another game? I still haven't even seen this game...but I enjoy the stories which come out of it! Is Randomland a Dwarf Fortress server? Is that how it works?
No, that's not normally how it works. You can set up a running game to connect to via ssh though (you would only get ASCII characters though. Someone should make a remote, tiled client for it.)
I hope to start a new game soon! So more stories to come!
I'm waiting for the updated lazy newb pack to come out before trying the new version. Hopefully that'll be soon. I'm ready to discover evil vampire dwarfs and fight reanimated corpses and stuff.
We could do another succession game but I really think we need more than two people. Skill/experience not a requirement. Also, I suck and I dropped the ball last time. Hopefully with a kid that goes to bed at 8:00pm and sleeps through the night I'd actually be able to do things in a timely manner.
They lazy newb pack just updated! Even before that the phoebus tile pack and the dwarf therapist were updated already. No you have no excuse! Break earth!
Courtney and Cody, You should play a succession game with us! Completely sucking is allowed in fact it is pretty much preferred.
Now is a great time to play as you won't have a heck of a lot of time after the little one appears, believe me.
Nick needs somebody to complain about how bad of decisions they make other than me.
That wasn't me.... that was the grumpy foredwarf!
I totally confused. But I hear a call to suck. And that's a call I can answer! What do I need to do?
It's there is one thing that I am good at, it's helping people suck!
Here is a link! It will take you to a place to get an all-in-one pack for the main dwarf game and to some graphic packs and utilities.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59026.0
If you want to start a world on your own you will have to generate a new one and then embark on it. Otherwise you can wait for Brad or I to play one just a little and get it stable.
Game play basics:
"d" - The key you will use the most. This is the "Designate" key. It opens the menu for digging, gathering trees and other useful tasks.
"b" - The second most used key. Opens the build menu. There are a few sub-menus (like for the furnaces, wall/floor type constructs and traps.) This menu lets you build industry and utility buildings. Workshops, kitchens and all the like will come from here.
"p" - The stockpiles key. Used for making areas that are designated for storage of goods, garbage, raw ore or most anything else in the game. Always make refuse piles outside to prevent miasma.
"i" - The zone key. Use this for designating area as a pasture or fishing/water gathering locations. It's other uses are rather easy to miss use. The garbage dumb option only kinda does what you think. This is not for getting rid of refuse, that's what a refuse pile is for "P" menu.
Use the Dwarf Therapist program for easily managing your dudes. It offers an easy interface for seeing what the dwarfs are proficient at and what tasks they have or have not got turned on at any time.
That's all for now. Ask us or consult the wiki (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Menu) for more!
This game...it makes no sense to me. I am somewhat reluctant to try it, but everyone here seems to think it is pretty awesome.
What does not make sense?
I guess I just don't really understand it. Perhaps I will download it and give it a try when I have some time.
I strongly recommend following a tutorial for your first play. And maybe even turning off invasions (So the goblins don't come and kill all your dwarfs)
120 days with no dwarfs!
A new game is in development that I have recently found out about: Castle-story. It's a 3D-ish dwarf fortress-ish game based on voxels. (Sadly similar to the game I have been half heatedly trying to work on.)
Give it a look! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/902505202/castle-story
That actually looks rather fun and interesting!